1. --- Concept Diagram --- Design Through Curriculum on Embedded Systems Dec 10-02 Problem Statement Department of Computer Engineering of Iowa State University wants a junior level learning module for students wishing to gain a bird’s eye view of how all their coursework can be combined to complete a real world task. Solution Robotics would be a good basis of the embedded systems course, while expanding it to include process creation and scheduling, shared variable management, and inter-robot communication. Using a operating system on the embedded microprocessor would enable the completion of these tasks. This system would be used by the students in the lab setting to complete a robot and compete in a friendly competition. Future Work Although we have a system to meet the course requirements, the course is not ready for implementation. Specific course materials for both the student and TA need to be written, and the new course should be tested with junior level students to check that the project is the proper length and that it provides the desired bird’s eye view of how all their coursework can be combined to complete a real world task. Expansion of the project may include implementing a more robust operating system with multi-threading capabilities and expanding the hardware for more memory to the Cerebot Plus breakout board. This could also remove the limitation of tasks and files needing to be predefined. The project could also be expanded to cover other course materials, such as electrical engineering topics. Requirements 1. The project will show students how to apply concepts learned in junior level classes 2. The course must be able to be reused for several semesters. 3. The course will be based on CprE 308 (Operating Systems: Principles & Practice) and Com S 311(Algorithm Design) and will utilize pre-emptive scheduling, multithreading and algorithms Intended Users This course is intended for motivated students who have completed or are currently enrolled in the courses listed in the Concept Diagram. Secondary users will be lab instructors for the course. Team Aisha Grieme Jeff Melvin Dane Seaberg Advisors Dr. Akhilesh Tyagi Jason Boyd Client Arun Somani Computer Engineering Department Project Website http://seniord.ece.iastat e.edu/dec1002 The Design The course will utilize a Cerebot II breakout board mounted in an iRobot Create with an Atmel Atmega128 microprocessor. Femto OS is the preemptive RTOS chosen for the system. The goal of the lab based course is for two teams of approximately four students each to program a set of robots which will complete a coordinated task. The task will involve synchronized movements while playing music together The program should manage tasks such that the music is played uninterrupted. To incorporate other specific course topics, the following requirements must also be met. The shell-like program will then be communicated to through Bluetooth, forcing the students to manage real time commands to the robot and to utilize the operating system. Course Concepts UsedProject Resources Complications During the course of the project, we as a team encountered many complications and set back that cause our design to change, however the team learn several valuable lessons through this process. With the Vex platform, we learned the limitations of what you can program with a proprietary system. Looking at the Bug Labs we discovered the drawbacks of emulators in that they lack full functionality of the real hardware. With our end platform, the iRobot, we learned the difficulties of getting an open source RTOS to work correctly on a board and the value of good documentation. Considered Systems COURSETOPICIMPLEMENTATION Cpr E 381Computer Organization Students will need to manage the configuration of the system, and what components are turned on Cpr E 308Task and Memory ManagementLimited memory, multi tasking system Cpr E 308File Systems Project implements a file system on the operating system Cpr E 308SchedulingTasks require Scheduling Cpr E 308I/O Program on robot must handle incoming data as well as output to computer and other robot Cpr E 288Embedded System Programming Basic Requirement, the project is on embedded platform Com S 311Algorithm Design Students will need to create an algorithm for the robots to complete the task in a timely manor Cost The cost to implement this system is nothing more than the time that will be put into it. The department has enough iRobots to run this lab already, and the operating system and other software are open source. If the system is expanded, the cost would be putting the Cerebot Plus breakout board in the iRobot for more memory at $59.95 ea. BOARDMICRO CONTROLLEROPERATING SYSTEMFILE SYSTEMTHREADSTASKSRT PRIORITY SHIFTMUTEXESFREE VEXRobotics: PICPICmicroSalvoOS?Yes ??No Bug Labs: BugbaseARM Cortex A-8Poky LinuxYes? ?? Arduino: MegaAtmega1280DuniOSNo Yes Digilent Inc: Cerebot IIAtmega128FemtoOSYesNoYes file system to store the music and other persistent data schedule tasks and dynamically change task priority shell-like program to communicate with the robot algorithm for managing robot input robot communications for synchronization limited memory on robot, memory and resource management